Che Guevara/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby. Moby rides a motorcycle with Tim who is in the sidecar. The motorcycle spews out black smoke and stalls. Tim coughs. TIM: That's the third time this hunk of junk's broken down. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, maybe someone'll come along and help. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, I see Che Guevara shirts everywhere. Who was he? From, Roderick. Tim is wearing a shirt with Che Guevara's face on it. TIM: Heh. An image shows Guevara next to a map of Latin America. TIM: Ernesto "Che" Guevara was a Latin American revolutionary. He is most famous for his role in the Cuban Revolution of 1959, in which Communist forces led by Fidel Castro overthrew the government. Cuba is highlighted on the map. Castro appears next to Guevara. TIM: No, it wasn't because he just liked rebelling. Che believed that most governments, especially those in developing areas like Africa and Latin America, were unfair to the poor. An image shows a poor man carrying a large bag on his back. TIM: To Che, communism was the only way to guarantee equality for everyone. An image shows a poster of defiant factory workers raising their fists in the air and shouting as a fire burns in the factory behind them. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Oh, communism is an economic system where, ideally, wealth is distributed evenly to everybody. An animation shows piles of money being equally distributed to six people. TIM: It's sort of the opposite of capitalism, where everyone competes to make money. The animation shows the money being put back into one pile and the people now competing for a share of it. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Ernesto Guevara was born in Argentina in 1928. An image shows Argentina on a map of South America and the face of Guevara as a boy. TIM: His parents were wealthy and well-educated and encouraged his passion for reading. An image shows a young Guevara reading on the floor, surrounded by piles of books. TIM: At age 20, Che enrolled in medical school. An image shows Che in front of the school. TIM: Then, three years into his studies, he and a friend took a year off to travel across South America. An animation shows Che and a friend riding on a motor bike on a country road. TIM: On this trip, they witnessed poverty and misery across the continent. An image shows laborers carrying heavy rocks out of a mine. TIM: Che was especially struck by the relationship of U.S. businesses to Latin America's poor. A sign at the top of the mine says "Anconia Copper." MOBY: Beep. TIM: By the end of the journey, Che had come to the conclusion that Latin America was really a single nation. An image shows Guevara next to a map of Latin America. TIM: He decided to devote his life to uniting Latin America and ridding the region of foreign influence. The image shows the borders between Latin American countries disappearing. TIM: Shortly after graduation, Che tried to find work in Guatemala, where he got involved with supporters of the president, Jacobo Árbenz. An image shows Guatemala on the a map of Central America, along with a portrait of Árbenz. TIM: But soon, with help from the U.S., Guatemala's army overthrew Árbenz, and replaced him with a president who was friendlier to the United States. This incident pushed Che to fully embrace communism as the only means of justice for Latin Americans. An image shows Mexico City on a map. TIM: To escape arrest by the new government, Che fled to Mexico City, where he met Fidel Castro, a Cuban revolutionary. An image shows a portrait of Castro. TIM: He decided that Castro's movement to establish a Communist government in Cuba was the revolution he had been seeking. An image of Guevara moves next to Castro. TIM: So they sailed to Cuba to overthrow the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. An animation shows a ship going from Mexico to Cuba. An inset image of Batista appears. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, with only 82 people and a leaky boat, the odds of success were not in their favor. They were attacked as soon as they landed, and only 22 of the revolutionaries made it out alive, escaping into the mountains. An animation shows soldiers on the Cuban shore firing their guns at the approaching ship. TIM: But over the next two years, they grew into a strong rebel force that overthrew Batista's government. Che commanded his own army, leading it to several decisive victories. An image shows Che leading a group of soldiers along a mountain path. TIM: After Castro took control of Cuba in 1959, Che served as a representative of Cuba's new government and became the face of Latin American resistance. An animation shows Che's photos in newspapers. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Yup. He also became a judge in Castro's military courts. He sentenced hundreds of enemies of the revolution to long prison terms, and even death, without fair trials. An animation shows Che as a judge, banging a gavel. The image shifts to show a man in a jail cell. The animation pulls back to reveal prisoners in rows of similar cells. TIM: That's part of the reason a lot of people don't see him as a hero. Under Castro, thousands of people were imprisoned just for their political beliefs. Many were executed. Cuba became one of the most repressive and undemocratic places in the world. An image shows a protestor being dragged away by police. TIM: It wasn't too long before poor Cubans, the very people Che wanted to help, were risking their lives to get away. An image shows people in a rowboat fleeing Cuba. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, Che came to believe that Cuba was too dependent on the Soviet Union; the Communist superpower that included Russia. A map shows Cuba flying a Soviet Union flag. TIM: So, he left Cuba to fight other revolutions, including revolts in the Congo and Bolivia, where he was captured and killed by government forces in 1967. A map shows the Congo in Africa and Bolivia in South America. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Che has come to represent lots of different things to different people. To some, he was an idealist who dedicated his life to the poor and powerless. But critics say he abandoned those principles. Even if he started with noble intentions, he wound up hurting a lot of innocent people. An image shows a portrait of Guevara. Half of his face is darkened by a shadow. Tim and Moby are standing next to the broken down motorcycle on the empty road. Moby has his thumb up to try to hitch a ride. TIM: Why are you doing that? No one's coming. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Social Studies Transcripts